Like Master, Like Apprentice
by funniefriend1245
Summary: It's been over a year since Maddie's become part of the Ranger Corps. While on a solo mission, she takes on another feature of her craftmaster's personality. Featuring Maddie Altman, the first female Ranger the Corps has seen!


**Title**: Like Master, Like Apprentice

**Author**: FunnieFriend1245

**Fandom**: Ranger's Apprentice

**Word Count**: 1613

**Summary**: It's been over a year since Maddie's become part of the Ranger Corps. While on a solo mission, she takes on another feature of her craftmaster's personality.

Maddie cursed to herself as she ran through the town's streets and back alleys. She was dressed as would suit a runaway farm girl – in a tattered dress, with a shawl that was heavily (but neatly) patched and darned, and boots that allowed her to feel every sharp stone and crevice on the path.

She had been on a fact-finding mission. There was a group of bandits that had set up operations in a nearby town, although Ranger intelligence knew that they were spread all across Araluen. She had been sent to discover their plans, and if possible, to cause confusion and change small details. The mission itself had been bungled slightly; although she had successfully swapped plans, she had inadvertently gained the attention of one of the thugs, and was carefully avoiding them.

Quickly, she assessed her options. She could run. Bumper was hidden in a clump of trees outside the village. She had taken her Ranger's weapons with her, of course, but they were hidden in the room in the inn where she had been working in exchange for a place to sleep. Her knives and uniform could be replaced, although she would likely get a telling-off from Will and Gilan.

But she couldn't leave her bow behind. It wasn't exactly pretty – the one that Will had given her at the beginning of her apprenticeship was a much more beautiful weapon. But she had made this one herself, and she was damn proud of it.

It was the thought of losing her bow, which she had spent many nights painstakingly cutting, planning, gluing, sanding, and varnishing together that prompted her to turn sharply and make for the inn.

She gave a hasty explanation to the owner – while staying in the farm girl character that she had taken on – that she needed to go, as quickly as possible. He was kind, but firm, when he told her that she had agreed to work another night for him, and she would have to pay. Then, she ran to her borrowed room and changed into her uniform, breathing a sigh of relief as she slid the cloak around her shoulders. She felt like a Ranger again.

Then, she started to think. The innkeeper and his wife had seen her come in. If they saw a Ranger leaving, that would bring suspicion to the character that she was playing, and she could not afford the bandits to change their plans. Although common people thought that Rangers possessed arcane skills and could appear and disappear at will, she was trying to get out of the village with as little fuss as possible. Reluctantly, she pulled off her cloak.

Then, she had an idea. Using some extra pieces of leather and string, she tied her trouser legs and shirt sleeves so they wouldn't show and pulled that ratty dress over her head. The boots would have to do, she decided.

It had been less than ten minutes that she had spent preparing to leave. It took two minutes to check her kit and make sure that her weapons and cloak were stowed on top, and then she was off. She paid Mistress Weatherby for the room that she had been sleeping in, said her goodbyes, and stepped onto the main road.

She walked behind the bakery, where she quickly discarded her dress. She hesitated over the cloak once more, but decided that a strange Ranger might give the bandits a clue that their illicit activities had been noticed.

And then she froze, listening hard.

"…going to check the inn first," came a growling voice. It was the leader of this group of bandits, and the one that had nearly caught her.

"What good would that do?" asked one of the henchmen. "What innkeeper is going to just give a girl to us?"

"I'm going to pretend to be her father, idiot!" said the first voice. "'Oh, yes, my girl is always running off. She's not content at home – there's a Roamer boy that she's taken up with and we just can't have that.' See?"

"Yeah, I guess," came the second voice. He sounded surly – probably at being called an idiot, Maddie thought.

"You keep watch on the street," came the first voice. "We've got watchers on either end of town. You make sure she doesn't sneak out from anywhere. Remember, she's got long blonde hair." Maddie's brief hopes were dashed as she realized that the bandits were on the lookout for her.

The men left.

Again, Maddie ran through her options. Then, a smile stole over her face. The men were looking for a girl. She would pretend to be a boy.

She drew her saxe and chopped off her hair at the nape of her neck. She checked to make sure that her weapons and cloak were still in easy reach at the top of her pack.

There was a pile of blackened coals behind the shop. They clearly had come from the massive wood fires that were constantly burning in the bakery. She used a stick to poke around in the coals, then held her hand to the wood. It was cool. Then, she used some of the blackened coals to darken her hair.

She found an axe among the discarded tools that were littered behind the shop. On close inspection, it was clear that the blade had been used too many times, although it would suffice as a prop to sneak past the bandits. She hefted it, along with her pack, and headed down the street toward the edge of town, near where she had hidden Bumper.

She kept her hands around her strikers as she walked nonchalantly past the first lookout, and again when she reached the second. A delighted grin spread across her face when she realized that her disguise – a young boy out to fetch wood – was working. The sentries had not recognized her.

She found Bumper, buckled her weapons belt around her waist again, re-strung her bow, and tied her cloak around her shoulders once more.

"Ready to go home?" she asked her horse.

He nickered. _It's about time. _

She grinned. "Then let's go."

It was a full day's ride back to Redmont, and the sun was already starting to set. She would ride until it was fully dark, and then find somewhere to sleep, she decided. She could beg a farmer to sleep in his barn, or pay to spend the night in an inn somewhere. The farther away from those bandits, the better, she decided. And she only needed a few hours of rest. She could be back in Redmont in time for breakfast.

With that thought in mind, she urged Bumper into his steady lope.

When Maddie and Bumper arrived in the clearing outside of their cabin, she heard Tug's whinny to Bumper. She grinned. "We're home," she said quietly to Bumper.

_Obviously_.

Maddie ignored her horse's comment. Will had come out of the cabin and was leaning against the doorframe. Clearly, he had come to investigate who was riding to his cabin so early in the morning.

"Good morning, Will!" she called.

He raised a hand in greeting. "I assume you're going to want breakfast?" he asked.

"Please!"

She led Bumper to the stable, where she unsaddled him, gave him a rubdown, and fed him a nice helping of oats. She also fed him an apple, praising him for the work he had done.

She considered heading for the bathhouse and cleaning off the travel dust, but decided that she would rather eat. Anything was preferable to her own cooking. Especially if Will was doing the cooking.

She trudged up the stairs, paused to give Sable's ears a scratch, and opened the little cabin's door. She hung her cloak on its proper peg and turned around. Will's back was to her as he busied himself frying eggs and bacon.

"Coffee's almost ready," he said as a greeting. "Bacon and eggs?"

"Please," said Maddie gratefully. She had grown a lot in her year and a half as an apprentice. She no longer minded the taste of bacon and eggs, and had in fact grown to like them a little.

She sat down just as Will was turning around with the pan. Then he stopped. Both eyebrows shot toward his hairline.

"Trying out a new hairstyle, are we?" he asked dryly, after a long pause.

Maddie reached up and touched her newly-shortened hair, suddenly self-conscious. "Oh! Right – I sort of had to disguise myself."

Will nodded, eyebrows still pointedly raised. "I'm sure it will make excellent post-breakfast conversation." Then he swore, as the heat from the pans made its way through the cloths he had wrapped around the handles.

"I knew that they were looking for a blonde girl, not a dark-haired boy," she explained as he finished the last of his coffee. "And I didn't want to wait around for them to catch me. I was far too outnumbered."

Will nodded. "And you have the information we sent you to retrieve?"

She nodded. "The papers are in my pack. Do you want them now, or…?"

"Later is fine." He studied her. His face showed equal parts amusement, resignation, and fondness, with a small part of exasperation.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked finally.

Will shook his head. And eyebrow crept up his forehead, seemingly without him noticing. "Halt really set an example for us," he said, gesturing at her hair. "I've been a bad influence on you. And your mother may very well try to kill me when she sees you."

Maddie blanched. "Forget you; she's going to try to kill me…"


End file.
